This invention relates to dispensing apparatus, in particular apparatus for dispensing food product from pre-filled containers, for example ice-cream.
It is a popular method of dispensing ice-cream from pre-filled containers to remove serving portions manually employing so-called scoops by which relatively hard, frozen balls of ice-cream are removed and served into edible containers or comets. Often such ice-cream is of premium quality so there is a perception that ice-cream product taking this form is of better quality than so-called xe2x80x9csoft-servexe2x80x9d ice-cream dispensed in other ways. However, scoop ice-cream is associated with several problems amongst which are that the serving process is laborious and time consuming and the use of open topped containers is unhygienic and wasteful of product.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing apparatus and method which overcomes problems with existing systems.
According to the invention there is provided a food product dispensing method by which product is dispensed from pre-filled containers of product, the containers having an outlet opening and a portion which is moved towards the outlet to extrude product from the container, whereby the container volume is reduced to extrude product through the outlet and into a receptacle which is located under the outlet, the receptacle being located at a distance below the outlet such that, as or after the product leaves the outlet, the position of the receptacle is arranged so that the receptacle applies a compression force on the product so as to shape the product and cause the cross section of product to be increased laterally of the direction of product discharge. The compression force may be variable so that initially during discharge there may be no resistance. Thereafter the force may be increased. In this way the product may initially freely enter the receptacle, for example an edible cone, then the force increases causing the cross section to increase, and finally the remainder of the product leaves the container. If the container is appropriately shaped the final discharge of product may present a generally spherical appearance in the receptacle.
The container may have a deformable portion which is deformed to reduce the container volume and extrude product.
Conveniently the outlet is of generally circular shape so that product normally issues in an initially cylindrical form but the outlet may be of other shapes.
The outlet may be formed as an opening sealable by a removable seal. Alternatively the opening may be formed by pressure of product engaging frangible portions of the base which may, for example, include radially directed weakened lines in the base radiating from a central point, the weakened lines parting under the pressure of product engaging the base. This provides an opening through which the product is extruded.
The internal shape of the deformable portion of the container is preferably of curvilinear, for example part spherical, form to assist in providing a part spherical shape to the product discharged into the receptacle. Alternatively, the container includes a piston and cylinder arrangement, movement of the piston reducing the container volume.
The receptacle is preferably mounted on a support which is moveable relative to the container during discharge, such movement including a movement during discharge to bring about the compression force and/or a movement for removal of the receptacle after discharge of product. The support may be resiliently mounted to permit resisted movement of the receptacle.
According to a further feature of the invention there is provided apparatus for dispensing product comprising a product container having an outlet and a portion which is moved towards the outlet to reduce the container volume, a support for the container, discharge drive means for engaging the moveable portion of the container to move said portion towards the outlet to discharge product by extrusion through the outlet, support means for a receptacle for product discharged, the support means being moveable relative to the container in the direction of discharge and according to the amount of product discharged from the container to bring about a compression force on the product discharged. In this way resistance to the product discharged from the container causes the cross-section of product to be increased.
Preferably the support includes support drive means for effecting said movement relative to the container, such drive means being timed to operate according to the operation of the discharge drive means.
The discharge drive means preferably includes a linear drive driving a plunger engaging a deformable portion or piston of the container and the linear drive is capable of moving the plunger at a constant rate or variable rate according to the position of the plunger during discharge.